Three-dimensional and two-dimensional imaging tools, such as laser scanners and cameras, measure in an automatic way a large number of points on the surface of an object, and often output a point cloud as a data file. Such imaging tools are useful for capturing visual information of an environment or a facility, and are widely used in construction industry, civil engineering, and asset management, among other applications. For some applications, such as asset management, it is often desirable to integrate asset information with visual information. For example, an operator viewing a scanned image of a plant may want to view the asset information related to a particular asset appearing in the scanned image. The asset information may include, for example, manufacturer's name, model number, specifications, computer-added design (CAD) model, maintenance history, and the like. Conversely, an operator viewing a list of assets may want to see where a particular asset is located in the plant from the scanned image. For some other applications, it may be desirable to create CAD models of the objects captured by an imaging tool. There is currently a lack of efficient ways of linking asset information with visual information.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method and system for automatically or semi-automatically identifying objects from images acquired by an imaging tool and associating asset information about the identified objects with the images.